Kindle Paperwhite owners can grab a new update Tuesday that carries with it two major features.

You can now directly participate in Goodreads, a community of fellow e-book readers that offers information and discussions on your favorite titles. The integration lets you share passages from a book with your Goodread friends, see what other people are reading, learn about new books, and review the books you read.

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The update also provides Kindle FreeTime, a service that should interest parents eager to get their children to read more. You can pick titles for your kids to read, set daily reading goals, and award your kids with achievement badges for reaching those goals.

Finally, Kindle Paperwhite owners will be able to organize their books and other content into cloud-based collections.

About the author

Journalist, software trainer, and Web developer Lance Whitney writes columns and reviews for CNET, Computer Shopper, Microsoft TechNet, and other technology sites. His first book, "Windows 8 Five Minutes at a Time," was published by Wiley & Sons in November 2012.
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